Chelsea players ‘approached by match fixers’

Former Crystal Palace and Lincoln City defender Moses Swaibu has claimed Chelsea have been approached by “quite a few match-fixers”.

In 2015, the then 25-year-old was sentenced to 16 months in prison after being convicted in relation to a match-fixing trial. Swaibu, who was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery, became embroiled in an international criminal network that paid footballers to do things like deliberately get a yellow card in exchange for thousands of pounds in cash.

Nowadays, Swaibu has worked alongside the Football Association, the Premier League, UEFA, FIFA and other organisations such as the Professional Footballers’ Association to detail and share his expertise on how these international criminal organisations exploit football. And while detailing the methods of these criminal groups, Swaibu claimed Chelsea have repeatedly been approached by match fixers.

When asked by the Athletic, the 33-year-old stated the West Londoners have had “a lot of approaches; they’ve had quite a few match-fixers approach their players over the years”. There is no evidence any players at Chelsea discussed or agreed to fix any matches.

While the Blues may have been approached in the past, Swaibu went on to explain how footballers lower down the pyramid, who are not earning anything close to those in the Premier League, are most vulnerable. He also explained how examples of match fixing are not as simple as ‘go and lose the game’ but often concern the more minor and forgettable moments of football matches.

“Match-fixing isn’t just, ‘go and lose the game’,” he began. “There’s spot-fixing, too, where the scenario could be, ‘Moses, you know the left-back, do you think he could get a yellow card?’. I can ask him. And if he says yes, OK, I will take 10 grand and give him five.” There is no suggestion Swaibu was referring to any left-back in particular in this example.

Considering the global outreach the beautiful game has in modern society, Swaibu is doing his best to spread awareness about the vulnerability of young players and those who compete in the lower levels.

“How rife is it in modern football,” Swaibu asked. “Football makes up 61 percent of illegal gambling.

“Wherever there’s a low amount of earnings in any league — whether it’s the UK, America, anywhere — you’re going to have a high potential of matches being manipulated.”

Chelsea were approached for comment by the Daily Star. – Daily Star.